Modern combat aviators are provided with harnesses to which parachutes and survival gear are attached. After bail-out and subsequent landing, the harness must be quickly removed to minimize the chance of injury to the aviator. At times, the aviator will land on firm terrain and other times in the sea. When sea landings are involved, it is possible that harness retention will cause the aviator to become incorrectly oriented, thereby presenting the ever-present danger of drowning. This is especially true in the event that the aviator has lost consciousness and is unable to mechanically actuate the harness release mechanism.
Harness release mechanisms must satisfy two basic design criteria. First, they must securely retain the aviator in the harness during normal flight conditions. The second requirement is for quick release after a parachute landing. Many of the prior art approaches have been successful with either one or the other but not both. Further, an attempt to accommodate land and sea landings as well as automatic release in the sea tends to create an unreliable and rather cumbersome mechanism.